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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Lismore Demesne

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts disguise themselves as garden features, waiting for humanity to stop looking for edges. This one wears a beech-tree collar instead of a ditch, its oval heart divided by a hidden ridgeline that may have marked a doorway, a boundary or a forgotten room. The fairies did not leave a building they could point at; they left a shape generous enough to become a demesne ornament. What people called a ringfort, the trees completed into a living fortress, and the fairies simply stopped being asked to explain themselves.
Probably originally a rath later transformed into a tree-ring. Raised oval area (int. dims. 37.2m N-S; 23.1m E-W) enclosed by a low earthen bank and slight remains of a fosse. Modern entrance at N. A low earthen bank aligned N-S divides the higher E segment from the W segment of the site. Internal area has been planted with beech trees. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1995). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 December 2008
A fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Lismore Demesne, likely an early-medieval rath, is characterized by a raised oval area enclosed by a low earthen bank and partial fosse. Local tradition associates such sites with fairy lore, and they were often considered sacred or supernatural places in Irish folklore.

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Recorded monument

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